by Valerie Lucus-McEwen: Degrees, certificates and relevant research for Emergency Managers
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These are the blogs related to the one you are about to read:
Doomsday Preppers are Socially Selfish (posted 11/29)
Doomsday Preppers vs Disaster Preppers (posted 12/2)
Doomsday Preppers: Mea Culpa (posted 12/4)
The Case for the Lifestyle Prepper (posted 12/8)
Merging Preppers with Emergency Management (posted 12/11)
A Short Note From A New Prepper (posted 12/13)
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NOTE: Several constructively critical letters, without insults, without invective, and without threats, were more effective at changing my mind than all that other stuff put together. I offered space for preppers to respond to these blogs. Here follows one of them...
Valerie,
I believe that you are prepared to change your opinion based on new information. It is a rare thing to admit your mistakes in public and try to make it right. I give you credit for that. I also understand that the “reality” show Doomsday Preppers is, in many ways, unhelpful to everyone who is trying to encourage people to be more prepared. But you were openly critical of the “real” people on the show, and/or the people who are like them.
The people featured on that show have been portrayed in a certain light; edited, massaged, put in a certain context that may or may not really exist. I know for a fact that they were given certain false choices that they had to respond to on camera. It makes for better "drama" you know? E.g., would you kill and eat your pet if you had no other choice?
What you saw, is not really how they are in real life. You used the phrase, “socially selfish”. I think, in a nutshell, that’s the phrase that pushed so many hot buttons.
Let’s examine the idea of selfishness in the context of a typical community. Let’s rank selfishness in the following group:
- Totally unprepared folks. Couldn’t care less. Could do something, got the resources, but just don’t. Not helping their neighbors either. Will absolutely be a burden on the system when, not if, something happens.
- Sort of prepared. 3 days worth of food, water and a few flashlights. Hey, that’s what the government recommends.
- Disaster prepper (your term). 3-6 months worth of food, water and everything else. Two generators, and a plan, which has been tested and revised several times.
- Doomsday prepper (your term). A years worth of stuff, and then some.
- Doomsday prepper that really doesn’t care about anybody but themselves and their immediate family.
Group #2 is selfish by default. They just never really gave much thought to it, but failure to plan is still morally reprehensible. To me, #3 and #4 are all the same people from a practical point of view. Perhaps a difference in degree, but it’s really a continuum. #5 is extremely rare, and I still rate them as less selfish than #1 and #2. And let’s not forget that #2 is doing what “you” recommend. It can be made to look like “you” (the government 3-day recommendation people) are making fun of preppers for doing more. I know that’s not really what you personally think, but it could easily be interpreted like that.
Your comments in the original blog post made it sound like #5 was THE problem, worse than anybody. In real life, they are not selfish. They are better than most. They have been portrayed in a very slanted manner by the TV producers. At the very least, they won’t be a burden on the rest of the rescue effort. Why not acknowledge the fact that the TV show, Doomsday Preppers, has nothing to do with the 99.9% of the rest of us real preppers? Nothing selfish about us, or them for that matter.
I think you raised the ire of the preparedness community because the “doomsday prepper” who really doesn’t care about anybody else, is vanishingly rare. Do they even exist at all? I’m sure they do, but it’s really a straw man argument. They have to be less than 1% of the larger preparedness community based on my knowledge.
And your hoarding comment was wrong. Hoarding is what happens a day or two before the emergency, and during. Buying extra ahead of time, even a year’s worth, even just for your own family, is NOT hoarding, or selfish. It’s the antithesis of hoarding. It reduces demand on limited resources during the event.
If you want an education, go read the Zombiehunters forum for a while. Then go read the Survival Podcast forum for a while and listen to Jack’s podcast for a month or two. Did you know they are developing their own DRT, Disaster Response Team? How’s that for selfish? Then go read the Frugal Squirrel Forums for a while and James Rawles Survival Blog.
This is the real prepper community, not some “reality” show. They care. They make a difference in their community. They are evangelistic about it. That’s how most preppers are. Most “doomsday preppers” as you call them, have tried everything they can think of to get their friends, family and community to give a shit. Mostly unsuccessfully.
If you want to make peace with this community, how about publicizing the good preppers, which are 99+% of them? Post links to resources and plug them when you’re working with the public. There is a ton of good resources available. Now THAT would be an unmistakable olive branch!
Finest regards,
The Libertarian
62 comments
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These are the blogs related to the one you are about to read.
Doomsday Preppers are Socially Selfish (posted 11/29)
Doomsday Preppers vs Disaster Preppers (posted 12/2)
OK, I get it. Preppers Are Not Selfish. I was wrong. I apologize. (posted 12/6)
The Case for the Lifestyle Prepper (posted 12/8)
Merging Preppers with Emergency Management (posted 12/11)
A Short Note From A New Prepper (posted 12/13)
--------------------------------------
Writing a blog is a funny thing – there are posts you expect to be controversial and aren’t – and then there are the posts where you don’t expect any reaction and are overwhelmed with the response.
I posted a blog five days ago intending to draw attention the National Geographic Channel show, Doomsday Preppers. I watched the last half dozen episodes and was appalled at what I saw. These folks are planning to survive an ‘end-of-the-world’ catastrophe and all their preparations were narrowly focused on themselves and their families. They have stockpiled resources including lots of guns and ammunition, and created bunkers or safe houses where they will defend themselves against hoards of unprepared neighbors. This is, as a fellow emergency manager noted: “a level of indulgence that is selfish and counter productive to providing for the common good.” I called it socially selfish.
I recognized that the show was melodramatic and exaggerated – what reality TV show isn’t? I was concerned enough to write a blog because it was commanding a space in the media market that could discourage ordinary people from preparing at all. I have spent my career pushing emergency preparedness and I know there are lots people out there who are apathetic, ignorant and would use any excuse to avoid taking care of themselves. I saw this show as a detriment to overall emergency preparedness.
And even though I was targeting only those extreme preppers, the whole ‘prepper’ community came unglued and there was a firestorm of impassioned comments. Much more, quite honestly, than I expected. Silly me.
It turns out there is a continuum of ‘preppers’ out there, ranging from the family with three days of supplies to that guy in the bunker planning for Armageddon. In between there are both the obsessed, compulsive hoarders who give all preppers a bad name, and the seriously dedicated people preparing themselves and working with their neighbors and communities
The comments from the blogs could pretty much be divided into those two groups:
The obsessed preppers condemned me as a government shill, living on taxes paid by an oppressed people, and part of the state who would use force to make them give up their ‘preps’. This group had a lot of real bad things to say about the government in general and FEMA specifically as they prepared for a total societal collapse. Here is an example of a comment from this group:
"FEMA wants people to have enough food that they don't get out of hand before the buses come to take them to the camps where the "emergency managers" can properly "manage" them. Don't want to go? Too bad, that's why they bought 400 million rounds of 40 S&W hollow points."
These preppers threatened me, called me names, addressed me as “Ms. Hypenated-Progressive” (who knew?) and worse. My apology is not for this group, which is just as well, because I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t accept it.
The dedicated preppers are the ones to whom I am addressing this blog: These folks were angry and hurt because I didn’t recognize the work they were already doing to help themselves, their families and their neighbors. They wrote intelligent, passionate posts about why I was wrong and talked about the concept of personal responsibility and accountability. They were frustrated by how hard they had tried to get their families and neighbors to be prepared, and the barriers thrown up by their local authorities. Lots of them don’t like the NGC show because it paints “all” preppers as extremists. They are amateur radio operators, community volunteers, and active on local CERT teams. They were angry and hurt they would be called selfish for taking care of themselves. These are two of those comments:
The prepper I know tries earnestly to educate his family, friends, and neighbors, not by giving sponsored presentations, but by having heart-felt talks with them. Those who understand, prepare. But most laugh and ridicule the prepper as "crazy", then run down to the mall to buy more stuff they don't need with money could've spent preparing for short-term or long-term disasters.
No one here said anything about existing outside a community, and I don't know any preppers, myself included, who intend to try to exist on their own.
I would like to very sincerely apologize to these dedicated preppers. I hope they understand that I didn’t intend to lump them in with the extremists. I am awed by what they have done against some pretty heavy odds and I am grateful they are out there. What is the phrase? To err is human, to forgive is divine. I erred and I am asking forgiveness.
There was small subset of the dedicated preppers who emailed me directly and were more interested in educating me than condemning me. They taught me a lot, helped me alter my perspective, and led me to some great resources. Check out the Marshall Preppers in Alabama, who have over 500 members and are actively engaged in neighborhood outreach. I bookmarked a website that allows preppers to share ideas about how to overcome some of their problems– they also have a Facebook page and a mention in Wikipedia. I was invited to a CERT Rodeo in Harris County, Texas in February.
They talked about how hard it is to get people interested in preparing – which should resonate with every emergency manager out there. They talked about the problems they have with their local emergency managers – who see them as extreme or ‘kooky’. Several mentioned the reluctance of their local jurisdictions to use their skills because of liability – and all you emergency managers out there know what I mean.
Emergency management professionals spend a lot of time lamenting the fact that the public doesn’t listen to their messages about preparedness. All sorts of approaches have been tried. In my experience, the only one that really works is when the community itself wants to be prepared. That is the basis for FEMA’s ‘Whole Community’ program: “…individuals, families and communities, who continue to be the nation’s most important assets as first responders during a disaster.” It seems to me there are resources out there emergency managers could work with and don’t.
So, this is what I’d like to do: I’d like to offer some of this blog space to those preppers who are struggling to prepare themselves and their neighbors: let them to use this space to talk about how they feel, show what they have done, what they want to do, what their problems are, and what they need. A lot of emergency managers read this; some of them might appreciate the education I have been given.
My agenda is to create a dialogue that might help EVERYONE be better prepared. Up front, I will add that I can’t answer everything sent to me or use everything offered, because I am only human and have a life outside this blog. If you are one of those dedicated preppers and want to talk to me, I’d like to listen. Send me an email directly to vjlm55@gmail.com Please put ‘prepper’ somewhere in the subject line.
Finally, one commenter dared me to make a video apology and post it on YouTube and offered me $100 if I did. Uh … I’m not gonna do that. Besides, I’d rather he used the money to buy disaster supplies for one of his unprepared neighbors.
68 comments
These are the blogs related to the one you are about to read.
Doomsday Preppers are Socially Selfish (posted 11/29)
Doomsday Preppers: Mea Culpa (posted 12/4)
OK, I get it. Preppers Are Not Selfish. I was wrong. I apologize. (posted 12/6)
The Case for the Lifestyle Prepper (posted 12/8)
Merging Preppers with Emergency Management (posted 12/11)
A Short Note From A New Prepper (posted 12/13)
--------------------------------------
A few days ago, I posted this blog: Doomsday Preppers are Socially Selfish. The role of a blogger is to foment discussion an it certainly appears that’s what I did. I very much appreciated most of the 150+ comments – except perhaps the ones that called me ‘stupid’, ‘nuts, ‘arrogant’, ‘ignorant’ – and a few personal emails that were much more graphic.
I wrote this for the emergency management community, who pretty much understood what I was saying. Social media is certainly powerful and I had no idea this would be so controversial.
FIRST .. let me offer a heartfelt apology. The title of that blog was misleading because there is a difference between DOOMSDAY Preppers and DISASTER Preppers. My sister, Marilyn, is a great example of a Disaster Prepper – although she calls it stocking up while working with her community. I asked her what the difference was and she said Disaster Preppers want to prepare for a prolonged power outage (all to common these days), while Doomsday Preppers are preparing for half the world to be destroyed.
For the record, I was a practicing emergency manager for over 20 years before I retired last year. The words 'All Disasters Are Local' are permanently inscribed on my brain. I would NEVER discourage or disparage work being done in communities as part of CERT or any other volunteer group. Those are the folks who are going to save the world. I can also unequivocally state (and I don’t know an emergency manager who would disagree with me) that NOBODY should expect help from their government during the first few weeks of any major disaster. The issues we saw in Katrina and Sandy (among others) only confirm it. The people who needed help right away were the ones who didn’t prepare. They took away resources that could have been used to recover infrastructure and bring the communities back on line a lot sooner.
Also for the record, I did go watch six of the more recent episodes before I wrote the blog. What I saw was a reality show that celebrated extreme people taking extreme measures for a black swan event, with an very heavy emphasis on security.
The most interesting comment was one about altruism. I define altruism like most dictionaries do – the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others. One commenter suggested that altruism is only done out of selfish interest to feel good about oneself. I would have liked to discuss the differences, except he/she called me stupid and suggested I was too old for a social collective and old, ignorant people like me were a drain on resources for the young and strong. Harsh. Definitely not conducive to an intelligent conversation.
There were many suggestions that I should do some research before I started writing crap, and I’d like to throw that back. If it has been a long time since you paid any real attention to what FEMA was doing, and before you just dismiss them now, look at their “Whole Community” initiative. This is a summary of what it says, but I’d encourage you reading the whole thing:
We fully recognize that a government-centric approach to emergency management is not enough to meet the challenges posed by a catastrophic incident.
This larger collective emergency management team includes, not only FEMA and its partners at the federal level, but also local, tribal, state and territorial partners; non-governmental organizations like faith-based and non-profit groups and private sector industry; to individuals, families and communities, who continue to be the nation’s most important assets as first responders during a disaster.
Both the composition of the community and the individual needs of community members, regardless of age, economics, or accessibility requirements, must be accounted for when planning and implementing disaster strategies.
When the community is engaged in an authentic dialogue, it becomes empowered to identify its needs and the existing resources that may be used to address them.
Principles
- Understand and meet the actual needs of the whole community
- Engage and empower all parts of the community.
- Strengthen what works well in communities on a daily basis.
In other words, FEMA doesn't believe in a government-centric approach to managing disasters; the first responders are always the individuals and the community; the needs of everybody in the community must be considered (including the elderly, disadvantaged and disabled); and empowering the community to help itself is the way to make this all happen.
Outside of the FEMA logo on that, what is there to argue with? It is the difference between being altruistic and being selfish. Selfish is defined as concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself, seeking or concentrating on one’s own advantage or well being without regard for others. By that definition, Doomsday Preppers are socially selfish – Disaster Preppers are not.
Finally, let me repeat what I said in the last blog: I am optimistic. I believe in the power of working at a local level within our communities while looking at the larger picture of making society better. I don't believe preparing for Doomsday helps make that happen.
157 comments
THANK YOU FOR READING THIS! When I wrote this blog, I was reacting to the National Geographic Channel show “Doomsday Preppers”. The message created quite a storm among the general prepper community and an opportunity for me to get educated on what preppers actually do.
In addition to reading this one, check out the followup blogs:
Doomsday Preppers vs Disaster Preppers (posted 12/2)
Doomsday Preppers: Mea Culpa (posted 12/4)
OK, I get it. Preppers Are Not Selfish. I was wrong. I apologize. (posted 12/6)
The Case for the Lifestyle Prepper (posted 12/8)
Merging Preppers with Emergency Management (posted 12/11)
A Short Note From A New Prepper (posted 12/13
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First, an admission: I have ignored National Geographic’s The Doomsday Preppers since it debuted in February. There are lots of ‘reality’ shows out there (I am personally fond of Top Chef and Project Runway), but being in the business of dealing with disasters on a regular basis, watching it seemed like a busman’s holiday – and a ‘way-over-the-top’ one at that.
What drew it to my attention was my friend David Burns, CEM. David has lots of experience in emergency management and response and my respect forever, even if there have been times we disagree on the details. For example, I passed on an offer from the producers of the History Channel documentary “After Armageddon” in early 2010 and recommended they talk to David. David had the best line in the final cut: he said “We’re gonna die and there isn’t a whole lot we can do about it.” Blunt, but brilliant.
(BTW: You can still buy that video or watch it on YouTube.)
Doomsday Preppers took the concept and made it a reality show, with real people talking about how they are preparing for their own personal vision of a catastrophe. It is the highest rated show EVER on the National Geographic channel – beating such offerings as Border Wars and Dog Whisperer.
The official NGC description for Doomsday Preppers says this:
Doomsday Preppers explores the lives of otherwise ordinary Americans who are preparing for the end of the world as we know it. Unique in their beliefs, motivations, and strategies, preppers will go to whatever lengths they can to make sure they are prepared for any of life’s uncertainties.
For example – one couple was preparing for the day the North and South poles swap places and cause major climate changes. There are individuals, families and small groups preparing for nuclear war, the upcoming economic collapse when China takes over the world, or the inevitable electromagnetic pulse attack on America that will wipe out radios and cell phones. If these folks weren’t so earnest in their beliefs, it would make a great science fiction series.
After the Preppers detail their plans, they get graded: And with our expert’s assessment, they will find out their chances of survival if their worst fears become a reality.
And guess what! You can get your very own Prepper score! The survey asks how much food and water you have stored away, AND whether you have a renewable food or water supply. Do you have a bunker, can you generate your own electricity, how many firearms do you own, do you have items for bartering – they recommend silver as the more tradable commodity. (Based on their criteria, I could only survive 1-2 weeks on my own with no outside help – and without helping anyone else.) Doomsday Preppers has an official Facebook page, with 179,061 ‘likes’ as of this morning.
David’s comment about the series: “Not sure if this is good or crazy good? A little prep is good, too much prep, maybe not so good, some of those Texan's can be quite scary," he said. "Good grief; just reinforced that there can be too much of a good thing ..."
This was from my personal ‘GO-TO’ person on catastrophic disaster planning!
You might wonder why someone like me, who has been in the business of encouraging disaster preparedness for a very long time, is so critical of people who are doing just that. It’s because they are being socially selfish – preparing themselves and the hell with everyone else. Instead of spending time and energy making changes that would benefit the larger community, in their very narrow focus of loyalty they are more concerned about themselves.
Emergency Managers can’t afford that kind of attitude. It is diametrically opposed to everything we do. Our job is to prepare individuals and communities and jurisdictions and regions and – ultimately – the globe for disasters, knowing we won’t always succeed. I could find statistics about how unprepared some citizens are, and then show you hundreds of active and volunteer CERT teams preparing whole communities. In major disasters (think 9-11 or the Christ Church earthquake or Superstorm Sandy), survivors for the most part WANT to help each other.
Sure, I’m optimistic. Think about historical disasters and the societies and cultures that collapsed: the Roman Empire is always a good example. The cultural and political system that was the Roman Empire was brought down by natural disasters, barbarian invasions and social instability; yet there were still established pockets of civilization that remained to become the seeds of the Renaissance.
The only catastrophe I can think of that might cause the type of destruction these folks are preparing for is a comet hitting the earth, aka: Lucifer’s Hammer. That is a great science fiction story - scared the bejesus out of me - but the world still survived.
There are those who think the Doomsday Preppers is an extreme model of self-preparedness; I just see them as an extreme model of selfishness.
375 comments
I don’t often re-use other blogs, but I am making an exception to summarize today’s post in “The New Forty.”
My good friend, Dr. Carol Cwiak, is an Assistant Professor at North Dakota State University, teaching Emergency Management. She is truly dedicated to this field and educating her students to understand what it takes to be an emergency management professional. Her blog today “What we should take away from Sandy”, shows how deeply she gets it.
Lesson One: Mother Nature sets her own agenda and she appears to be becoming more volatile every year. “Is this a function of global warming, a normal cycle of activity that ebbs and flows, or just bad luck? Who knows…all you need to acknowledge at this juncture is that it is a reality.
Lesson Two: As population and complexity in society has increased over the centuries, so too has vulnerability increased. “We want to live where we want to live, but often we give little thought to the additional risk we incur with such choices. Add to that our increasing reliance on complex systems to not only fuel our day to day services, but for communicating with others.”
Lesson Three: Even if a disaster does not hit where you live and do business it can still profoundly affect you. “When it (the East Coast) takes a hit such as the one Sandy delivered, businesses around the world feel the pain and the whole tourism industry – to include everything from A to Z associated with tourism – holds its breath wondering what that will mean for their own economic situation.”
Lesson Four: If the government says get out – then GET OUT! “If you do not listen to these folks, you do so at your own peril and you should not expect help. And on a personal note allow me to add, if you do so and you have children – your children should be removed from your care as it is tantamount to child endangerment.”
Lesson Five: Turn around, don’t drown. “Never underestimate water or the force of water’s current. It has reshaped and moved mountains – your vehicle and your family are a party trick.”
Lesson Six: Expect that an emergency or disaster could affect your community on any given day and have a plan for what you will do. “Own your own risk, because truth be told, the government in all its vastness does not have the necessary resources to come to the aid of all the folks who will need help.”
Sometimes practitioners squint their eyes at academians. The truth is that those in the academic community are just as passionate and committed - and knowledgeable - about this profession as practitioners.
Besides which - knowing her - I seriously doubt Carol is going to let anyone squint at her.
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Once again, there was a successful International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Conference in Orlando, Florida last week, although there were some unexpected challenges. Like … Hurricane Sandy. Attendance was great, but many of the folks from the northeast couldn’t attend unless they got there early. and then they couldn’t get home.
Some great new features this year that can only going to make the IAEM conference better in the future. One was the Leadership Symposium, a pilot program designed to fill a gap common to many conferences – how to add value for those professional, experienced leaders who have seen it all. My personal favorite was the IAEM2Go 2012 app for the smartphone. No big, glossy, printed, multi-page program! Loved it! I used it the whole time to find locations, updates, maps, biographies, tweets. The links to the surveys were there, too. How many trees did that save?
The BEST feature, and the one that will make the most difference in the long run was the Crisis Technology Center. It was staffed by 12 “Techsperts” who were primarily members of the IAEM Student Region. They volunteered and then came to the conference early to attend the 8-hour NDPTC (National Disaster Preparedness Training Center) course on social media.
The Techsperts were there to help emergency managers transition into the world of emergency technology by setting up their Twitter accounts, building their Facebook page, or show them how to start a blog. They also took the time to explain cloud computing, crowdsourcing, virtual EOC’s, and radios (digital, analog and HAM).
“This isn’t just social media; it’s about all kinds of emerging technology,” said Alisha Griswold, who is with the Port of Seattle and the Chair of the IAEM Emerging Technology Committee (ETC).
Alisha said some of their visitors compared them to the characters on the CBS series The Big Bang Theory, while the Techsports were trying to avoid the stereotype and show them anyone can use this technology.
“There were lots of skeptics,” Alisha said. “It was really fun to get them up and running with a new Twitter account. They would get all excited.”
There were also attendees who really were already technically proficient and wanted more in-depth information. One of the popular topics was ‘image authenticity’ – how to verify whether or not images on twitter are real. Another was how to sift through the data that comes from using crowdsourcing to find that nugget of information that is really needed.
Finally, the conference this year was the exciting scene of an attempted coup. More about that tomorrow.
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I freely admit to being a Disaster Diva – a coin termed by Claire Rubin. I’ve been glued to the media coverage about Hurricane Sandy. The 60th Annual IAEM conference begins tomorrow morning, and I expect there will be a lot of discussion about it – updates, stories, predictions, opinions. There were a few bits that I found particularly interesting.
The first was a nice article earlier today in The Atlantic summarizing why Sandy has meteorologists scared in 4 images. My favorite line was the mention of an earlier tweet from a reporter with the Wall Street Journal about one of those images: "Oh my.... I have never seen so much purple on this graphic. By far. Never."
CNN did a live interview with Nicholas Coch, a Coastal Geologist at Queens College talking about the potential effects on New York City. He talked about the wind tunnel effect through the downtown high rise buildings that is likely to break windows and scatter glass on the sidewalks. The storm surge on top of the high tides (full moon) is likely to cause flooding into the subway system and extensive damage. “Salt water and electrical equipment don’t mix well,” he noted sagely.
One channel showed the Flightradar24 map that tracks live air traffic. Everything was flying out of the northeast, and there were only a couple incoming flights. (BTW: this is an awesome site and one you should bookmark.)
Again on CNN, a couple took a video of the last night of a 7-day cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy as it encountered rough seas from Hurricane Sandy as they were passing Miami, Florida. One of his comments: “There was a moment in the night where the ship tilted so far to the right that the furniture moved across our room. If you think about how far a thirteen story ship has to tilt for furniture to move, it says a lot.”
The most satisfying part of the evening was a call from my daughter, who is in the medical school at UMass Worcester. She told me about everything in her emergency kit and what she had done to prepare herself and her roommates. She had thought of everything – from $20 in small change to an evacuation kit for Mr. Henry (her cat). She even signed up with the Worcester emergency alert system. The only thing I could suggest was a car charger for her cell phone.
From the maps tonight, it doesn't look like Worcester will get as much weather as New York City or Washington DC, but it is gratifying to know she is taking it seriously. Makes a mother proud.
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The best place to collaborate with other Emergency Management colleagues is the annual IAEM conference and this years 60th annual IAEM conference opens tomorrow in Orlando, Florida. Unfortunately, there are a lot of colleagues from the northeast who can’t attend because of Hurricane Sandy and some of the stories demonstrate their commitment and professionalism.
For example, my fellow blogger: Adam Crowe, who writes the Disaster 2.0 blog. At one time, Adam was safe from hurricanes in Johnson County, Kansas, then he accepted the position of Emergency Manager at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He was scheduled to make two presentations during this IAEM conference but had to bow out on Saturday. When I finally talked to him, he said VCU has been preparing for the past week, just in case. “While in the end, this area may be mostly missed, it reminds us all what our profession is all about.”
On the other hand, Brandon Greenberg wasn’t planning on attending the IAEM conference because he is a full-time MPA student at Wagner College in NYC, an independent consultant and self-described technophile. He is, though, collating and curating a lot of pertinent data, warnings, advice and other information at Disaster.net because “most of the EM’s up here are in operations mode.” It is a great site – go take a look.
Then there is Marcia Nickle from the University of Delaware. She never got out of town, but she did respond briefly to say: “Currently at work! Closing campus, prepping for power outage, evacing on-campus students who can go home (some can't), major messaging campaign, feeding, generators, activating EOC Mon morning at 0800.
Finally, Brendan McClusky from New Jersey. Brendan came to Orlando on Friday and Sunday morning, when many flights to the northeast were being cancelled, Brendan and a colleague decided to rent a car and drive the 18 hours back home. When I tracked him via email, this is what he responded:
We started off around 8:30a this morning, and are currently in South Carolina. I've been on three conference calls (state OEM, NWS, our hospital), sent a bunch of emails, and updated our incident management system using a mobile hotspot plus iPad, my cell phone, and email from my BB. I have 3 more conference calls this afternoon (Federal, University, hospital).
This level of commitment isn’t unusual for emergency managers – the same thing happens with earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, civil demonstrations, winter storms, et.al.. It’s just something we do when we take on this kind of responsibility. I suspect, when the conference officially starts tomorrow, there will be a lot more stories.
Meanwhile, the official keynote speaker tomorrow morning is Craig Fugate, Administrator of FEMA. He is supposed to be flying in from DC. We’ll see if he makes it.
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If you are an emergency manager and you haven’t asked this question, you are missing out on something wonderful for yourself and your agency.
First, a review of the ongoing discussion in the Higher Education community about the difference between training and education. I’m written about this before (here and here and here), and spoken quite vigorously about the difference with colleagues. The explanation I like best comes from a journal written in Spring 2000 by a professor in Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering at THE Ohio State University:
"It’s the different between know how and know why. It’s the difference between, say, being trained as a pilot to fly a plane and being educated as an aeronautical engineer and knowing why the plane flies and then being able to improve its design so it flies better.”
In Higher Education, what brings together knowing how and knowing why is a Capstone Project:
- It is the final project before a student graduates, the opportunity for students to integrate the knowledge they have gained into practice.
- It is planned to be intense and comprehensive. Students work with agencies or businesses to plan and implement a project that that represents a contribution to the practice of emergency management.
- Projects can be almost anything: developing a new program, writing a grant proposal, creating a community program, develop a training curriculum and manual
Where I teach, a Capstone Project takes three semesters. One semester to research potential ideas and narrow the focus into an abstract, one semester to implement the project and write a research paper, one semester to present and defend their Capstone Project to a faculty committee.
My courses this semester revolve around supervising Master’s degree students working on their Capstone Projects. These students are primarily mid-career emergency responders looking for promotion, or the opportunity to get into something different. They want to graduate, get their master’s degrees and move more fully into this profession. Their backgrounds and interests are varied and the projects they build are just as varied.
I don’t know an Emergency Manager who can’t use some help in researching and developing ideas for their agency or office. If this sounds like something you are interested in, this is what to know:
- A Capstone Project is NOT the same as an internship. Students need guidance, not supervision. Most of the time, these are students who already have a background in some part of Emergency Management
- These are two semester projects, one semester to plan and one semester to execute. They are narrowly, but comprehensibly, focused on answering a single research question.
- In today’s environment, Capstone Projects can be online. With Skype and Google Docs and IM’s and Sharepoint, it really shouldn't matter where the student -or the emergency manager - is located.
Take a look at the FEMA Higher Ed College List. Contact a program and tell them you are interested in working with a student on a Capstone Project. See what happens.
2 comments
I am going to comment on a blog posted yesterday by Adam Crowe, who writes the Disaster 2.0 blog for Emergency Management Magazine. This one was titled:Emergency Management is Dead (as You Know It).
Like all good bloggers, he was expressing a point of view that deserves to be considered, and the replies brought out some really good extensions of his thoughts. The reply that made me stop and blink was the one that began, “Like a lot of youngsters’ who came into this profession in the 21st century …” <my emphasis>
WHAT!!??
I’m trying not to get irritated at that reader, but this attitude is part and parcel of what Adam was saying. When a worldview is so held by one of our ‘more experienced’ emergency managers that it doesn't allow for conflicting ideas and discriminates against a colleague because of the supposition of youth, then something surely is dead. Maybe intellectual curiosity.
Let me see if I can restate Adam’s premise: Everything changes when poked hard enough. Emergency management grew out of Civil Defense to become something different, it altered course for various presidential administrations, morphed with major events like Y2k and 9-11. We all embraced the concept of a system to manage incidents (whatever you want to call it). Our focus expanded to include all hazards.
The change we are seeing now is more cultural than technical. We have a much more skeptical public that embraces instant communication, transparency and social collaboration. As emergency managers, we have to accept and incorporate this cultural change into what we do. We have to be social engineering emergency managers.
What’s wrong with that? It’s just another hat we wear.
This reminds me of an exercise in English class way back in high school (and I’m definitely not one of those “youngsters”) . The teacher gave us this phrase and asked us to write an essay about what it meant:
The Truth is Subversive.
It took me all night before the lights came on and I realized it was a circular argument. The truth is what one believes to be true. When an idea or concept is powerful enough to overthrow or abandon that truth, a new truth emerges.
Let me state it in a different way: If you won’t change your mind on a certain subject, regardless of the evidence and information to the contrary … well, let’s just say the world isn’t going to wait around for you to catch up.
Paradigm shifts are good for you.
Great job, Adam.
4 comments
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